


Beside You

by BeccaBear93



Category: Best Friends Forever (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 17:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3819265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaBear93/pseuds/BeccaBear93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Dude Night again, and everything feels brittle and Teddy is tired of pretending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beside You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kiarawolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiarawolf/gifts).



> My first fic for this fandom. As prompted by kiarawolf, Vincent/Teddy and Dude Night. Probably spoilers for everything that’s out so far, since it’s meant to be whenever the next Dude Night is after chapter 22. This was originally going to be mostly from Vincent’s POV, so imagine my surprise when I started writing and Teddy completely took over. I actually think I like it a bit better this way, though. Also, I just had to include “Beside You” by Marianas Trench, but it’s kind of a perfect song and rides that line between friendship and more perfectly in my opinion and you should go listen to the whole thing if you haven’t heard it.

“Where do you want to go tonight?” Teddy asks, starting up the Ferrari. It still feels weird to be the one driving and see Vincent in the passenger seat. Sometimes he misses the way things used to be, and not just in that regard.

“Wherever you want,” Vincent answers with a shrug, and Teddy tries not to notice the almost-shy smile or the slight blush. He ignores it like he has for months, wishing that he was as oblivious as he pretends to be.

So he leaves the driveway and heads towards the center of town to see what looks interesting, because he knows that neither of them actually knows where they’re going and that neither of them actually cares. It’s Thursday night, and they’re spending it together for the second time in as many months, and that’s really all that matters.

—

They end up going for (vegetarian) sushi, doubling over in laughter while they attempt to use chopsticks to steal the rolls off each other’s plates.

When they eventually settle down to actually try to eat, silence settles in. It’s comfortable, but there’s always words hanging unspoken in the air between them. After a few minutes, Teddy puts a voice to some that he’s been thinking all night. “I’ve missed you.” Hesitantly, quietly, like everything will come crumbling down again if he says it too loudly.

Vincent huffs out a laugh, like he doesn’t understand. They’re always pretending not to understand each other lately, dancing around in circles. Their friendship shouldn’t feel this fragile; it never used to. “What do you mean? We see each other all the time.”

Teddy gives him a small smile. “I know, but we’ve been too busy for Dude Night lately, and until recently, I’ve been with Penelope a lot and you—” Right on cue, Vincent’s phone buzzes. He checks who it’s from and his face goes red. Teddy lets out a barely audible sigh, already knowing that he would see “Louis” if he snuck a peek at the screen.

“Sorry, sorry,” Vincent says, shoving the phone back into his pocket.

“Who was that?” Pretending, again. Always pretending.

“Nobody important,” he insists, as usual. Teddy had assumed that he and Louis had become friends, maybe bonding over their shared hatred (or at least annoyance) for John, but Vincent’s been keeping whatever is going on a secret. Surely he knows that Teddy wouldn’t judge him for having other friends? There’s no need to hide it, unless there’s more than meets the eye… And that thought makes something twinge in his stomach, a mixture of confusion and sadness and maybe just the tiniest bit of jealousy, but he tells himself that he’s just imagining things. Surely there’s a simpler explanation.

“Right.” Teddy looks at Vincent’s empty plate and his own half-eaten food, quietly pushing it away. “Do you want to go see a movie?”

“Sure,” he answers, pulling out his wallet.

“Vincent.” Teddy gives him a warning look, gently pushing his hands back down.

“Teddy, I have some money saved up now, remember? Please, just let me pay for once. You always do.” Which isn’t exactly true, because he always  _tries_  to, but he lets it go just this one time.

—

They leave the theater grinning from ear to ear and spewing cheesy action hero lines in their deepest voices, jumping behind pillars as they dodge imaginary bullets from each other’s hand-guns. Once they’re back in the car, Vincent just says, “Park?” and Teddy nods, driving to their usual spot.

When they get there, he grabs his book and Vincent grabs his guitar out of the back seat (Teddy loves it when Vincent plays it and sings, and Vincent knows it, and he always brings it along just in case). They sit on the bench while Vincent starts strumming, but he pauses at the buzz of another incoming text. Teddy buries his nose in his book, pretending not to notice, and after shooting off a quick reply, Vincent starts playing again.

After a minute, words join the music, and Teddy tries to act like he’s still reading, but he can feel Vincent’s eyes on him and it’s difficult.

“When you try to speak, but you make no sound  
And the words you want are out of reach, but they’ve never been so loud” 

Teddy can feel himself start to shake, so he closes his book and hides his hands in his lap.

“Nobody will break you,” Vincent finishes, setting the guitar down. At some point Teddy started staring at him, but he doesn’t even realize it until Vincent looks up and meets his eyes, his face a bit red again. He tries to tell himself it’s just from the cold of the night. He doesn’t believe it. No matter how much he lies to himself, he doesn’t quite believe it.

“That was beautiful,” Teddy says honestly, looking away. He slides his feet off the bench to sit properly, and where his own hand lands he can feel the heat of Vincent’s just millimeters away. A vague thought crosses his mind, ‘It would be so easy…’ and his heart beats double time, flooding through his head and drowning everything else out, even the thought in the back of his head constantly screaming, ‘But it could make everything else so hard.’ And in the few moments that that thought is gone, Teddy decides to take the leap while he still can. Just a tiny movement, a nudge of his fingers to the left, just enough to cover his friend’s. And he can feel the moment that Vincent’s eyes snap to his face, wondering if it’s just an accident, so he curls them, squeezes his hand just a bit.

When Vincent doesn’t respond in any way, Teddy pushes past his fear enough to glance out of the corner of his eye. Vincent is staring at him with something like wonder, and then he seems to jump out of a trance and flips his hand and squeezes back, and they grin at each other and Teddy thinks, ‘Maybe it  _can_  be that easy.’


End file.
